This may be a dumb/rhetorical question, but are there really people who believe the NHL brass is above reproach and beyond criticism?

Yes, they appear to be called "journalists"

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

The arrogance and condescension that comes from the top of the NHL is downright infuriating.

Anyone who dares question an action of an official or ref is pretty much a slack-jawed yokel who obviously has no idea what they are talking about and deserves to be outright laughed at. I'm always amazed at the self-control of anyone interviewing Bettman, to not simply punch that sneering, smug "you're all idiots" look off his face.

A case of beer to whomever does.

"All done? Five bucks." - Pavel Datsyuk after an interview"Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings." - Steve Yzerman

Embattled NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell has finally spoken out to defend his controversial emails, speaking on the league-owned NHL Network.

“I’d regret the tone of the emails if I had known this many people were going to read them, and those who might not like the National Hockey League or me or disagree with my decisions would find a way to read into what I wrote,” Campbell told the Network. “I don’t regret doing what I did as far as my job because there (was) no intention to do anything wrong at the time. There was no affecting any game. Everything was up front.”

Campbell has been the centre of attention after a local blogger Tyler Dellow (mc79hockey.com) deciphered redacted parts of Campbell’s emails – that were evidence in the wrongful dismissal suit of referee Dean Warren — that showed Campbell called Marc Savard a “little fake artist.”

Warren lost his wrongful dismissal suit, but is appealing.

Some wondered whether Campbell’s opinion of Savard may have led to Campbell deciding not to punish Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke last season after Cooke blindsided Savard, who is still suffering from post-concussion syndrome.

“That’s the most ridiculous statement, or one of the more ridiculous statements I’m hearing in this whole affair,” said Campbell, who coached Savard with the Rangers in the late 1990s. “I had Marc when he first broke into the league. I was coaching the Rangers and I liked Marc. Marc was a talented player. I knew Marc could embellish and Marc embellished well. I was surprised how well he did embellish. When you’re the coach of a player who knows how to embellish you call it ‘drawing penalties.’ When you’re a coach against a player you call it diving or a fake artist, whatever you want to call it.

“For someone to say that I didn’t want to suspend Cooke because Marc Savard might be faking, there’s no way I thought Marc Savard was faking. One thing about Marc Savard is he was a tough, durable player. He wasn’t someone who would fake an injury. There is a big difference between diving to try to draw a penalty and faking an injury.”

A new rule outlawing blindside hits was introduced this season.

"All done? Five bucks." - Pavel Datsyuk after an interview"Very few cities in the NHL have the history or the following of the Detroit Red Wings." - Steve Yzerman

Cooke spoke out on the matter, saying he was okay with Campbell, though he also did have this to say regarding being called a faker by Campbell.

Savard played for Campbell when the two were with the New York Rangers in the late 1990s, and Savard admitted his style of play was encouraged at the time.

"One of the ways when I first came in the league to stay in the lineup was draw penalties," he said. "I think he encouraged it at the time if you asked him. So I think that's what he was referring to, but it had nothing to do with the Cooke situation."

Colie would never encourage one of his players to embellish or dive to draw a penalty. His integrity and honesty is beyond question. I think Savard owes him an apology.

"If I can be totally honest, it's not a lot of guys you get impressed by. Actually, it's no one else but him. From the bench, to see what move he makes -- you're like, 'I wish I could do that.' Sometimes you sit on the bench and just think, 'wow,' and you look over to the other bench and they sit there and shake their heads, too. He has great, great skills. I'm probably not going to play with another player who has the kind of skills he has." Mikael Samuelsson on Pavel Datsyuk

Of the 30 active players, all 30 said they believed Campbell’s integrity has been permanently broken because of the e-mails — even if they were old e-mails and were taken out of context.

One player said it didn’t matter.

“Someone who wasn’t with our organization at the time got an e-mail from Colie saying something negative about me,” one player said. “I can’t say anything publicly though, because if I ever have to go in front of him, it could affect what happens now.”

There was one active player though, who felt this Daily Times poll was a bit of a fruitless effort.

“Colin Campbell is really unimportant,” he said. “You’re focusing your inquiry in the wrong area. Anyone who thinks Colie is the guy actually handing down the discipline is naïve. Until the guy who really makes those decisions is called into question, the problems we have with inconsistency with rules and discipline are not going to go away.”

New e-book: The Spanish-American War: A Brief History. Relatively short, introductory read for casual history buffs and people who want to learn more about a forgotten war that changed America. Available at BN.com, Smashwords, Kobo, and Diesel E-Books right now. Same link as above.

"Colin Campbell did so something wrong, Eric. He talked about his son Gregory. No matter how you slice it, it's a conflict of interest. When Steve Walkom, who at the time was the NHL director of officiating, is being grilled about games with Gregory Campbell(notes), and that is the rub. That is the one serious problem with Colin Campbell."

"What referee reading those emails or this story this week isn't thinking, 'Jeez, next time I have the Boston Bruins ... Colin Campbell has the ear of Terry Gregson, and I make a bad call in that game, how does that affect my chances?'"

Whew, for a second I thought I was going to compliment Mike Milbury -- thankfully Ron stepped in and one-upped him before I could type my compliment, but that Eric Francis guy couldn't possibly have his nose more up Campbell's ass. Even if you don't take the issue seriously, at very least the grilling of an official directly in charge of how officials call penalties, relating to his own son, is a major conflict of interest. The more douches like Francis try to sweep it under the rug the more irate people are getting about it. This isn't nearly to the level of scandal relating to the NBA referee one, but it's also went past how long of a story it should have been thanks to Campbell's ******-like attitude about it, with a complete failure to recognize his own wrongdoing and moving on. His attitude only perpetuates the insinuation that he's beyond reproach, which I know is highly wrong as even the police answer to somebody when they f*** up.

^ That's why this is so ridiculous, the league doesn't acknowledge the wrongdoing or conflict of interest at all and only finds it "unfortunate" that the emails have been released to the public. Like this was all some sort of mishap or something. Boooooools***.

No you don't understand, the players 100% support Colie and the league brass. Bettman said so.

esteef

Heh, it really is amazing.

They're PR is just awful - I get that they think they are beyond reproach in any and all things and anyone who disagrees is an idiot, but it doesn't take a genius to see flaunting that attitude to the players, fans and media leaves quite a bit of distaste, resentment and distrust.

A simple statement of "This specific incident was unbecoming of an NHL official, and while it did not directly influence officiating of the refs in any game, it introduced a precedent of bias indirectly impacting the game. This matter was dealt with by the league and it's officials three years ago and we are confident Campbell has performed his duties with the utmost integrity."

Is that so hard? Even if it is total BS, it presents at least a token of professionalism and would remove a lot of doubt.

I also love Campbell's implication that anyone who has a problem with those emails hates the NHL.

Red Kelly #4 and Larry Aurie #6 belong in the rafters!!!

"For my game, I don't need to score the goal," Konstantinov once explained. "I need someone to start thinking about me and forgetting about scoring goals."